55 suspects over Karbala blasts arrested

KARBALA / IraqiNews.com: Fifty-five persons suspected of involvement in Friday’s deadly Karbala blasts were arrested on Saturday, according to the province’s police chief. “Fifty-five people were arrested as part of a campaign that was launched right after the lethal Wednesday and Friday bombing attacks that targeted Shiite pilgrims,” Maj. General Ali Jassem al-Ghariri told IraqiNews.com news agency. “The arrests were conducted based on information and evidence in the bombing site as well as the types and number plates of vehicles,” Ghariri added, noting the suspects are under investigative custody. A local medic had said on Friday that a nearly final count of casualties from the blasts that targeted pilgrims in Karbala’s Imam al-Hussein arbaeen is 41 deaths and 144 others wounded. “Most of the casualties are women and children,” the medic told IraqiNews.com. He said that among the wounded there are 60 women and four children. “Some corpses and human body parts have not yet been identified,” the source said. The arbaeen pilgrimage is a religious occasion marking the 40th day after the death of Imam al-Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson and the third holiest figure for Shiite Muslims, in the battle of Taf in Karbala in the Hegira year 61 (680 on the Gregorian calendar). Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from inside and outside Iraq were flowing on foot into the city for the holy rituals. Tight security measures have been in force and a large number of security personnel have been deployed in Iraq’s holy sites in preparation for the occasion. Karbala, said to be housing the tombs of Imam al-Hussein and his brother Imam al-Abbas, lies 110 km southeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. AmR (S) 1